Deployable antennas, which can be compressed and expanded, can be useful for many applications, such as satellite communications. In such applications, it is important for the antenna to be able to fit into a small space and, then, be able to expand to an operational size once orbit is reached. While the sensors and operating electronics of satellites can be scaled to small volumes, the wavelengths of the signals used by miniaturized satellites to communicate do not scale accordingly. Given that the wavelength of a signal determines the size of an antenna needed to communicate that signal, antennas for miniaturized satellites still must have dimensions similar to those for larger satellites. Because of these size limitations for deployable antennas, some of the advantages of satellite miniaturization remain unrealized.
Origami folding techniques have been applied in many technical areas, such as antennas [1, 2, 3, 4], robotics [5], and electromagnetics [6]. Circuits and electronic elements can be integrated into a planar form and, then, folded into three-dimensional structures by using origami folding techniques. These origami-folded structures make it possible to design reconfigurable and expandable components for deployable antennas. However, there still remain challenges in making deployable antennas that can balance stowability and reconfigurability with their operational requirements.